Formula 1
Singapore
Grand Prix
live
Updated 36s ago
It’s qualifying day as Formula One takes to the streets of Marina Bay for the 2025 Singapore Grand Prix this weekend.
Championship leader Oscar Piastri is in need of a response after a difficult weekend at the Azerbaijan GP last time out — and the Australian made a promising start by finishing Friday free practice quickest (1:30.714).
That was ahead of Isack Hadjar and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who won in Baku and will be hoping to pile the pressure on his two McLaren rivals once again in Singapore.
George Russell and Liam Lawson both crashed out of a chaotic FP2 yesterday, and Lawson repeated the outcome in final hour of free practice — which is still ongoing — ahead of qualifying for tomorrow’s grand prix later.
You can follow it all with our experts and correspondents live, below.
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FP3 9:42 — Into the final 10 minutes and here we go. Charles Leclerc and then Lando Norris takes over top spot, with Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri also in the mix.
But it’s Max Verstappen fastest right now, with a 1:30.148, ahead of George Russell.
And these margins right now are FINE.
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FP3 16:51 — All bar three cars out on track, this is the calm before the storm of those final runs ahead of qualifying.
Strap in.
FP3 22:57 — It was just the seven laps for Liam Lawson in FP3. He only managed 10 in FP2.
Even if that Racing Bulls car is repaired in time for qualifying, which would be miraculous, he will have a tall order in front of him to make it through Q1.
Meanwhile, we’re going to start seeing these times come down now as we approach the final third of this final practice session.
Kimi Antonelli is now fastest out there, setting a 1:30.760 in his Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton has been noted by race control for a possible red flag infringement.
It’s unclear what may have happened, and no confirmation yet of an investigation, but the stewards have been very strict on those so far this year.
FP3 29:29 — A busy few seconds for Williams.
Carlos Sainz locks up but gets the safety of a runoff area.
Then Alex Albon sticks his car P2, within two-tenths of Lando Norris’ FP3 benchmark so far — a 1:31.021s.
We’ve halfway through this final practice session already.
FP3 35:25 — We are back underway on the track, so not too much time lost there.
And there weren’t any unsafe releases either (that I’ve seen).
Here is how Liam Lawson lost it in the first place …
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That’s a second crash in three practice sessions for Liam Lawson.
At a time when he’s trying to make a case for his F1 future amid the inevitable reshuffle across Red Bull and Racing Bulls going into 2025 — so it’s not been an encouraging weekend thus far.
He had no chance of saving that after losing the car running over the curb.
Also, spare a thought for the mechanics down at Racing Bulls. That’s a second major rebuild in the space of 24 hours to undertake.
FP3 39:54 — Liam Lawson reports that he’s fine, which is good news. The medical car was automatically deployed due to the impact of the crash — an automated sensor puts out that information.
But that is such bad news. The shunt yesterday needed a lot of work from the mechanics, and this one is arguably bigger. Will Racing Bulls have the parts available — and also the time to turn it round before the Q1 has come and gone?
Terrible outcome for a driver still hoping to secure his seat for 2026.
And of course, the clock keeps ticking when we get a red flag in free practice — so everyone is missing out.
FP3 45:05 — Oh no! Turn 7 has a stricken Racing Bull left in bits. The red flag is out and so is Liam Lawson from this session.
A nightmare, given he also crashed out of FP2 yesterday
That’s a nasty one.
FP3 48:57 — A near miss for Carlos Sainz as he comes up behind a cruising Lando Norris and almost ploughs into the back of the McLaren.
And Franco Colapinto outbrakes himself in his Alpine, but manages to do it at a roomy runoff.
Nothing there that would convince George Russell and Max Verstappen to head out, I imagine.
FP3 52:15 — We’re ticking on nicely in these dry and toasty conditions — we’re up to 41.9C (107F) track temperature.
In fact, with that and the daylight, Marina Bay really isn’t shying away from the fact this scenario is completely different to what we’ll get in either qualifying or the race.
Perhaps that’s why George Russell, who missed a huge chunk of FP2 with that crash yesterday, is yet to venture out on track.
Only the two Mercedes and Max Verstappen are yet to go out for a spin.
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FP3 60:00 — Green light in the pit lane! Let’s get this show on the road.
Here comes the Saturday action. Let’s see if we can avoid losing time to red flags this time, guys …
Not long now. The final hour of practice ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix — and before a crucial qualifying session — is just minutes away.
Don’t go anywhere. This is when it gets serious …
Ferrari has been fined €10,000 ($17,700) for the unsafe release of Charles Leclerc in the pit lane during FP2 yesterday.
Leclerc and Lando Norris were involved in the incident that followed the session’s second red flag for Liam Lawson’s crash near the entrance of the pit lane.
As the teams hurried to get their cars out for the remaining 15 minutes of the session, Norris’ McLaren was already on its way when the neighbouring Ferrari garage did likewise with Leclerc barely a moment later.
The pair’s collision was inevitable and while Leclerc was able to continue without much fuss, Norris was rolled back into the McLaren garage — with the help of apologetic Ferrari mechanics — to have his damaged front wing replaced.
You can watch the incident below, and you wonder if this incident will prompt some form of procedural change in future.
Between the two red flags — for session-ending crashes from George Russell and Liam Lawson — and the very strange unsafe release incident with Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris (more on that in a moment), second practice in Singapore wasn’t quite as useful to teams as they may have hoped.
The lack of time to get in some proper long runs left the teams a step behind their typical preparations, with the added challenge being that today’s final remaining practice takes place in different conditions to both qualifying and tomorrow’s race — basically before the sun has gone down in Singapore.
Nevertheless, McLaren will have enjoyed Oscar Piastri topping the session, one-tenth of a second clear of Isack Hadjar who finished a surprise P2 for Racing Bulls.
Max Verstappen got third for Red Bull ahead of Fernando Alonso in fourth, continuing Aston Martin’s solid start to the weekend.
It was a trickier session for Lando Norris, who wound up P5 and was almost half a second off his teammate and title rival. Norris also seemed frustrated late in the session when he was talking to engineer Will Joseph, stating it wasn’t his car that was half a second off his teammate — but his driving.
It was advantage McLaren come the end of Friday in Singapore, but there’s still plenty to play for today.
Top of the time sheet:
As is always the case with first practice in Singapore, the lack of representative conditions — taking place in the daytime when it’s hotter — make it hard to take any proper readings from the session.
Still, it’s never a bad thing to start on the right foot. Here it was Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin topping the session, and with the high downforce demands of Marina Bay potentially able to bring out the better qualities of his car through the weekend.
That said, his teammate Lance Stroll was also the slowest car in the session.
Charles Leclerc in P2 was no surprise given how often Ferrari has excelled in Singapore, while Max Verstappen and Red Bull would have been quietly pleased with third. This has been the team’s ‘bogey’ track through the years, and remains the only circuit on the F1 calendar that Verstappen is yet to win at.
But it was a tough opening hour for Alex Albon, whose rear brakes caught fire on his installation laps. The Williams’ session ended there and then.
Top of the time sheet:
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Heading into the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, many anticipated that McLaren would secure a second straight constructors’ championship, given the dominance of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
However, the weekend concluded with another Max Verstappen victory, accompanied by a record six red flags during qualifying, with neither papaya driver within reach of the podium finishes they needed.
Piastri crashed twice, while Norris could only manage seventh. With Verstappen capitalizing on their struggles to take victory, it begs the question of whether the Red Bull driver is once again a championship threat.
The opportunity for McLaren to claim the constructors’ championship in Azerbaijan didn’t materialize — but that merely delayed the inevitable for the Woking team.
There will be a maximum of 303 points available to any one team following this weekend, so if McLaren heads to Austin with a lead of 303 points or more, then they will have the constructors’ title in the bag.
Behind them, the race to finish second — and likewise sixth — looks a battle royale. Both are beautifully poised for the remaining races.
Despite a difficult weekend of his own as he jumped started and then crashed out on the opening lap, Oscar Piastri would have appreciated leaving Baku with a 25-point lead over Lando Norris intact.
But Max Verstappen is now just 44 points behind Norris, meaning neither McLaren driver can afford a similar failure this weekend.
As for the race to finish inside the top 10, that is looking pretty tasty too. It’s seven races to go (plus three sprint races) from here …
*Inactive driver

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